2 Visitors From 'Best Place' Find 'Worst Place' Something of a Prize

YUBA CITY, Calif. — Cheryl Anne Cardillo and her mother, Irene, left what some call the best city in the nation--Pittsburgh, Pa.--to the spend a weekend in the worst--Yuba City.

The weekend trip for two to Yuba City was a prize offered by Pittsburgh radio station WHTX, based on the rankings of best and worst metropolitan areas recently listed by Rand McNally in its "Places Rated Almanac." Cities were judged on the basis of availability of transportation, health care and education, among other factors.

The listing was perceived as a major insult in Yuba City, where about 500 area residents gathered at the fairgrounds earlier this month for a "Go Yuba City" rally and Rand McNally map burning.

The Cardillos took to the place almost immediately after arriving Friday.

"It's green for this time of year," Cheryl Cardillo, a 28-year-old computer operator, said. "In Pittsburgh it's so brown."

The two were greeted at the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport by Yuba City Mayor Chuck Pappageorge and reporters and television camera crews.

The women were swept away in a white stretch limo to the rural community about 30 miles north of Sacramento. They danced Friday night at the Elks Lodge, saw a play at Yuba College and Saturday enjoyed the Bok Kai Chinese Festival parade in nearby Marysville.

They also will tour an East Indian Sikh temple in Yuba City and eat a Hop Sing Society Chinese dinner, all courtesy of the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce.